1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector housing, and more particularly, to the electric connector housing which can be assembled by rotating a rotatable ring, and a method for detecting an engagement thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is disclosed an electric connector housing as shown in FIG. 22 as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-257581 of unexamined patent application, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,106.
An electric connector housing 90 of the type is composed of one connector housing 91 and the other connector housing 92 which is adapted to receive the one connector housing 91 into an engagement therewith.
The one connector housing 91 is composed of a housing body 93, a rotatable member 94 which is rotatably fitted to an outer face of the housing body 93, and an actuating boss (not shown) provided on an inner face of the rotatable member 94. The other connector housing 92 is composed of a housing body 95, a hood 96 which is bulgingly formed on an outer face of the housing body 95, and a cam groove 97 formed at an outer face of the hood 96. Numeral 98 designates a panel assembled to the other connector housing 92.
Assembling of the electric connector housing 90 is conducted by inserting the actuating boss into the rotatable member 94, rotating the rotatable member 94, and inserting the one connector housing 91 into the hood 96 for the other connector housing 92 to bring both the connector housings 91, 92 into an engagement.
However, because the rotatable member 94 easily rotates along the outer face of the housing body 93 of the one connector housing 91, there has arisen such an inconvenience that the housing body 93 and the rotatable member 94 must be positioned with respect to the other connector housing 92 before starting the engagement.
Moreover, because a rotation angle (rotation amount) of the rotatable member 94 cannot be judged through visual inspection, there has been a fear that the rotatable member 94 may be overrotated after the engagement, or that the rotation of the rotatable member 94 may be suspended during the engagement.
Further, because a state of engagement between a pair of the connector housings 91, 92 cannot be detected by the visual inspection, it has been feared that both the connector housings 91, 92 are forcibly engaged with each other by mistake, even though they are in an incompletely engaged state. This would have damaged respective terminals inside (not shown).
In view of the above described problems, an object of the invention is to provide an electric connector housing in which positioning work of the one connector housing with respect to the other is reduced to the most, an erroneous excessive rotation of the rotatable member after the engagement is prevented, and the incompletely engaged state can be easily detected by visual inspection, and a method for detecting the engagement.